Blog
School Carpark Expectations Written by Karen Andrews, Health and Safety, Ararira Board
School Carpark Expectations Behaviours we want to see: Park in designated car parks including on the road. Carparks have been designed and placed by qualified traffic engineers to optimize visibility for drivers. Always stick to the 10km/hr speed limit. Children come...
Digital Complications and Applications Written by Blair Cook
Digital Complications and Applications What is digital addiction? Digital addiction among students in New Zealand is a growing concern in the modern era, as technology and digital devices have become an integral part of daily life. While technology offers numerous...
Coaching Our Students
Coaching is an important part of Ararira learning for our teachers and our older ākonga. We see coaching as an opportunity to sit with a colleague or support person and in the first instance, check in. Secondly, it provides the coachee with the chance to be listened...
Attendance at Ararira
The Importance of Attendance We all recognise that education is the pathway to the future. The key to educational success relies on being present at school. Consistent routines and practice are a big component of learning. Neurological pathways in our brains require...
Neurodiverse Learners
Neurodiverse Learners Neurodiversity is a term used to describe the range of neurological differences among individuals, including conditions such as autism, dyslexia, ADHD, and others. From a school's perspective, it is essential to acknowledge the diversity in the...
Peer Mediation at Ararira Springs Written by Meeghan Coetzee
Peer Mediation Ararira Springs has adopted the peer mediation programme as it fits so strongly with our values of being caring, curious and capable. Peer mediators, selected from Year 7/8 classes, undergo a period of training based on the 'Cool Schools Peer Mediation...
Aotearoa New Zealand History Curriculum Written by Carolyn Sutherland
The curriculum taught in New Zealand schools is currently undergoing a refresh and changes to the eight curriculum learning areas will be phased in over the next three years (2023-2026). The first area to be redesigned and introduced into schools across the country is...
Payments and School Donations
Payments and School Donations Our community’s socio-economic status means our school is not eligible for the government’s school donations scheme. Our equity index means we receive less operational funding than other schools. More information can be found at the...
Structured Literacy Approach to spelling (years 3-8) Written by Shelley Smith
The structured literacy spelling approach involves explicitly teaching tamariki how to encode (spell) the English language. It connects the reciprocal nature of reading and writing together. English is an Alphabetic Code It uses symbols of the alphabet (letters or...